1001 Books Update - Their Eyes Were Watching God

My friend at work tends to sometime give me books after she's read them. Examples of her generosity are My Dream of You and Mistress of the Revolution. So the other day she finished up Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

This is one of those books that I've been meaning to read (I have to admit) because I really like the title. I also love the cover of this edition. And I haven't read many books by Harlem Renaissance authors. So I thought I'd give it a try.

The book was written by Zora Neale Hurston in 1937. The story is about Janie Crawford who is living in a time period after slavery ended but during the Jim Crow era. Basically raised by her grandmother, she is married off at an early age to escape the fate of her grandmother and mother who both had children out of wed-lock. To make this even harder, Janie Crawford is a real beauty with gorgeous hair.

The story is basically a journey through Janie's life where she looks for love and finds herself. She has a few failed marriages and her travels take her from Georgia to Florida...from a prosperous stint as a weathly man's wife to picking crops in Flordia. It took me a while to get engrossed into the book. About halfway I started rooting for Janie to find herself and have the freedom to be herself and find love.

I have to admit I was pretty surprised that in the end I really enjoyed the book. The first half was a bit of a struggle and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I know that if I had tried to read this in high school I probably would have been really annoyed. The story is written in venacular so it takes a while to get used to. And I just wasn't attached to Janie's story at first. But stick with it and it's a wonderful story.

Oh...and I just noticed that there's a movie with Hallie Berry. I haven't watched it but...well, it's out there :)

Also Reviewed By:
Lost in a Good Story

1001 Book Update - Sexing the Cherry

While my husband and I were in Virginia a few months ago on a mini road trip/vacation, I popped into a used book store in Williamsburg. I got three books and for some reason all three had red on the cover. Weird. This was one that I picked up. I've heard of Jeanette Winterson and obviously the book has an interesting title. Sexing the Cherry (first published in 1989) had to be one of the most interesting and odd books I've read in a while. This is going to be a tough review.

Ok...so I've given up on my synopsis and am going with the Library Journal's one:

Bizarre images and bawdy laughter galvanize this splendid English farce about a prodigious giantess and her explorer son in 17th-century London. Jordan fetches the first pineapple to the court of Charles II, while his mother, The Dog Woman, wreaks vengeance upon Puritans in a brothel. The plague; the flying princesses who defy laws of the courts and gravity; Jordan's travels to the floating city and the botanical wonders of the New World--the tale nips easily in and out of history and fantasy. The two characters eventually merge into the grievously polluted life of modern London. Metaphors abound with polemics on environmental concerns and politics of past and present. Not for the Jackie Collins set: readers need a background in surrealism to follow this story.

Hmmm...interesting, right? So imagine this book as a weird fairy tale. But not our classic "happily ever after" ones. Imagine the dark ones, the Grimm ones, the ones where the sisters cut off their toes to fit their large feet into Cinderella's glass slipper. Yeah, those ones.

The story starts out during Charles II's reign (think the plague, regicide, etc). Enter a larger than life woman named Dog Woman (she breeds and keeps a pack of at least fifty dogs for sale and fighting). On her website, Winterson describes Dog Woman as the "only woman in English fiction confident enough to use filth as a fashion accessory". She finds a baby floating in the Thames (think Moses) and names him Jordan. He grows up craving travel, adventure, and searches for love. The narration switches between Dog Woman and Jordan.

I think I'll leave the review there. I'm torn on how I like it. Half the time I was thinking "Wow! I need to highlight that section." Other times I was totally disgusted or lost. But at only 192 pages it's a very short read and I will have to revisit and re-read it again.

And for some reason I am just fascinated by book covers. The cover above is the one on the edition I read. But here are various other covers...interesting:

Quandary

One thing that has totally taken me by surprise is the humidity in this city. Yeah yeah yeah...I know there are tons and tons of places that are super humid but I've never lived in them. I've lived in a lot of dry and arid places in the West so this is a little weird to me.

That said...for all of you living in hot/humid areas...what type of bedding do you use in the summer? We have a super comfy down comforter we use in the winter but it is way way too hot for the summer.

So right now we just use sheets which is really not attractive.

Then I saw this contest for a quilt...very cool!! It's at the Old Red Barn Co.
Or you can click the link on the right...pretty huh?
Or you can head on over to the Back Porch Quilters and let them make your own custom made quilt. Pretty cool.

Whenever I get it all figured out I'll post a picture of our bedroom....until then...

Finished a Challenge!

Yay! So I finished my first reading challenge...the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

1) The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins (Finished June 10, 2008)

2) The Madonnas of Leningrad - Debra Dean (Finished June 20, 2008)

3) The Colour - Rose Tremain (Finished June 21, 2008)

4) The Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant (Finished June 29, 2008)

5) The Blood of Flowers - Anita Amirrezvani (Finished July 11, 2008)

6) Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks (Finished July 09, 2008)

If you are curious to check out other people's reviews of their books in this challenge, check out the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Blog

Book Update - The Blood of Flowers

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani is the last book I chose to read for my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I chose this book because the setting was not the typical European setting that many historical fiction falls into. Instead, The Blood of Flowers takes place in 17th Century Persia (Iran).

The main heroine is a 14-year old girl in a small village. She is the only child of two loving parents. Her passion is rug making. But her world is soon shattered by the untimely death of her father. She travels with her mother to the large city of Isfahan to seek shelter and security with relatives. However, the relatives treat the pair more as servants than as family members.

The book is about the coming of age story of the 14-year old narrator who, while growing up, is forced to go through trials and tribulations to become a woman and be in charge of her own destiny.

I thought this book was such an interesting read. I loved the description of rug making, especially the afterward which explained how the author did research into the 17th Century period and trade of rug making. I was also fascinated by the Iranian custom of sigheh which is basically a form of a temporary marriage which under contract can last anywhere from an hour, a few months, or many years. A bit of this book reminded me of Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus which was about a girl with a passion for art who also goes through trials in a coming of age story.

Check out the author's website on the book and photos of Isfahan which along with her descriptions in the book make me really really want to visit that city.

Also Reviewed by:
Reading Adventures
Age 30 - A Year of Books
Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?

Tagged

The weird thing about blogs is you never know who is reading your posts. On that note, I've been tagged by Amber at Letters to the World

Rules:
1. Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

Unspectacular quirks, endstop.

1) Making up songs. I love making up ridiculous songs and singing them around the house. Did I mention that I don't sing well and am horrible at rhyming.

2)Playing with food. If I can eat my food in an odd or methodical way I will do it. Which is why I love chopsticks and sushi...it's fun with food. And I can't eat a hand full of trail mix. Each piece is eaten individually and separated.

3)Wherever I go in the house I always have a little entourage that follows: chap stick, hair tie, and random countless other miscellaneous stuff. My sister thinks it's hilarious.

4)Notes and lists. I always have tons of notes and lists floating around everywhere. I makes lists for everything.

5)Tree photos. It's an obsession.

6)Shoe and pant issues. I hate when my pants ride up behind the back of my shoes when I'm walking. Drives me nuts.

I'm tagging:

Katherine at A Girl Walks into a Bookstore
Becky at Becky's Book Reviews
Nicole at Book Escape
Stephanie at The Written Word
Trish at Trish's Reading Nook
Stephanie at Confessions of a Book-a-holic

Fun Contests = Many Books

Two contests are going on with each giving away 14 Books from Hachette Books. Enter and maybe you'll win a ton of books!

Bookshipper's Blog

Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading?